Comments on: William Curley – new Pimlico shop

By: Travel Guatemala

Travel Guatemala — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:31:10 +0000

Yeah Alex its really interesting and I feel really hungry when I saw those appetizer and its great to bring my wife there she really loves chocolate.

By: Alex Rast

Alex Rast — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:48:42 +0000

An update: since I last went, it seems Curley has adjusted the recipe for the hot chocolate. A more recent visit confirmed the superiority of the new formulation. It was close to definitive. I suspect this is about as strong as one can make it without it becoming too intimidating – or at least outside the boundaries of most people expect – for the general public. The chocolate flavour stood out more prominently and significantly, it was much less sweet, which is the critical improvement. Having now perfected the basic hot chocolate, perhaps Curley might experiment with an “intense” hot chocolate – aimed at those who want something more serious and who are already accustomed to high-power chocolate? In fact, another dimension to explore might be flavoured hot chocolates: the current version is a superb base for various additional flavours (e.g. mint, cinnamon, etc.) which could provide interesting range.

Look at my posting in the forum for more details on what was an interesting visit.

By: keith hurdman

keith hurdman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:29:34 +0000

Interesting article Alex…if a little ungentlemany…short arms indeed lol!..lI ook forward to visiting soon…
Have to disagree about Cafe Rivoire though .Nice place if albeit a tourist trap, the chocolate is good but not in the same class as Sprungli on Paradeplatz in Zurich…
keith

By: Alex Rast

Alex Rast — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:38:08 +0000

I went to the new shop on the Monday after it opened. There can be little doubt that it offers the most pleasant (and, it must be said, least intimidating) environment of all London’s chocolate shops. Not that I’m unfamiliar with Curley, of course, but I got several items while there.
The chocolates, as usual, are sublime. Of course the Chuao, and the sesame, are outstanding. I got a hazelnut – I can’t say I was quite as impressed as some of the others, in part because of the texture, which was of the “rocher” style, but that’s in a relative sense. I also got a raspberry – using a pate de fruit filling instead of a ganache is an instant winner, so much better in intensity.
I got a raspberry cake which was textbook French patisserie. What is there to criticise? Perhaps the raspberry flavour wasn’t as intense as it might have been, but then again, this is late fall. I expect in summer this would be better. But the chocolate taste here was exceptional.
It should, however, be noted that the chiller cases are imparting a slight flavour to everything. I think this is a by-product of them being so new. What I would do is this: get a “sacrificial” bag of cocoa powder. Place it in each chiller case. The powder should absorb the odour and improve the flavours in the products on offer. A bit like using baking soda, with a chocolate twist.
I got a hot chocolate as well – seasonally appropriate. This proved to be the one disappointment. I honestly can’t say that this was anything more than a fairly standard hot chocolate that you might get from anywhere. It needs MUCH more chocolate as a ratio, MUCH less milk. Cafe Rivoire in Florence sets the reference standard for what hot chocolate should be like. Might one of the WC staff make a trip there to try it, so as to get a sense of what good hot chocolate is about?
Service was very patient with me. I like to hand-select each individual chocolate. This can be cause for exasperation among staff, who in most chocolates are at a bit of a loss to understand why I’d want to select the specific individual piece from among a tray of chocolates of the same flavour. I got none of this here, though: the woman was completely accommodating, even when (as was inevitable) I selected the pieces that seemed always to be out of reach of her rather short arms.
Hopefully Curley will have more success in this location than at the Mayfair shop. Going out to Richmond was always something of a trek and it’s nice to have something more central. I can’t resist commenting on the element of competition here, too: of course just around the corner is Artisan du Chocolat. Who will be the winner? Hopefully there is room for both.